it’s another great day in Iksan! Right now it’s raining pretty hard, but not like what it’s going to do in late summer…anyway, this past week has been a little rough. One of our recent investigators dropped. I was expecting it though. His name is Lee Ho An, (이호안). I met him while I was 전도ing (proselyting) He is in his late 30s and looked depressed when I first met him. I gave him a copy of the BoM and set up an appointment. When we met him, I could tell that he had a little bit of a mental problem, but was VERY high functioning. It was hard to get answers out of him, he wouldn’t talk much. Anyway, we asked what he thought of the Bom and he said that he thought it was true and when we asked if he wanted to be baptized, he said he would. But the next time we met him, he had to randomly leave for a second. After a couple minutes, his mom comes in, and tells us to leave. We of course leave as quickly as possible and she says never to come back. We haven’t seen him since. Anyway, I know that he will eventually accept the Gospel, I don’t know when, I just know he will.

Not a lot of progress from our other investigators. But we’ve figured out that the key to progress is meeting our investigators with members. I feel that when we do that, our investigators will progress exponetially. Anyway, sorry this is a short letter. I gotta go. I love hearing from all of you guys!! i hope everything goes well this week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder V. LeVan Smith

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Well howdy doody!
It was great to call last week on Mother’s Day! It sounds like everyone had a great time! Congratulations to Eric and Grant!!! Whooo! It must be great to finally graduate huh? I’ve also neglected all the birthdays and anniversaries these past couple months. Sorry. Happy Birthday to Revery and Bryson and congratulations to Ron and Wanda for another wonderful year together! Anyway, I hope all is well and happy!

So I haven’t been able to tel you all about what’s happened in the past couple weeks. So 2 weeks ago, I was transferred to 익산(Iksan). it’s about a 30min train-ride from 정읍(Jeong-eup). My companions are Elders Evans and Orr. Elder Evans is still training…and I just got done with training, so I am still inside until 12 everyday…ugh. But on the bright side, I’ve got more language time! Whoo! Anway, this past week we met one of our investigators, Christopher. He’s an english teahcer from America married to a korean and expecting a baby in the next month. He’s hard-core Catholic, but he still wants to know what we’re all about. He’s traveled all over the world to Egypt and Jerusalem and a BUNCH of other places for the search for the truth. He’s way into history and stuff like that. So when we’ve met him and talked about the BoM, it’s been hard to get him to not base his testimony on those things, but rather on the promptings from the Spirit. Last time, we got into a huge discussion on the book of Abraham and the Papyri. All about how the translations don’t match up and everything, we tried to move on(I also suggested Hugh Nibley’s book on it)but he said that it was a huge stumbling block for him. Anyway, he still wants to know the truth but it’s sorta like pulling teeth with him it seems like. He’s really funny and truly has real intent, and we FINALLY got him to take a BoM. Whooo! Suprisingly, after we suggested a scripture passage in Ether, in the coming days, he read the WHOLE BOOK of Ether!! I hope things fall in place for him…

Anyway, here in Iksan it’s kinda hard for lessons just because there’s not alot of investigators; so we do a LOT of 전도(proselyting)!! 한국말(Korean) is coming along well, but it’s hard not to compare myself to Elder Evans, he’s really good at Korean and he’s a transfer younger than me. So that’s hard to do, but I know that everyone has there own pace.

So a funny thing about Iksan. The house is crappy. haha!!! Everytime I walk into the house, I just get depressed, just cause it always smells weird. You know that feeling of just like, “Ugh…”. It’s a
combination of mold and “missionary” and it’s always hot too. There’s only one faucet for both the shower and the sink…the faucet is BETWEEN the tub and the sink. So if we switched the flow for the tub, it would just go straight on the floor….So every time we want to brush our teeth or do anything at the sink, we always have to use the shower head.
All the pots and pans are weird and hard to cook in, the linoleum is warped and bubbled, the stove is uneven and there’s only 1 1/2 feet of counter. The toaster is in the other room cause there’s not enough room, the refrigerator freezes things and smells like a combination of Kimchi and something else…The bathroom has mold, the window screens are broken so we have to put a mesquito net over all of us so we don’t get eaten alive at night(we leave the windows open because it gets really hot at night.). BUT I’m loving it! it cracks me up everytime I see those things. it’s really funny! But I’m planning on fixing a bunch of stuff while I’m here. Haha! Anyway, that’s Iksan for you! I hope everything goes well in your travels and everything! I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder V. LeVan Smith
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So this week we found a new investigator tha t was really awesome!! After the service we did last weekl, we met with her and taught her a bunch of stuff and she was asking a BUNCH of questions! It was awesome! We also had a member there that sorta took over, but she learned a lot and we were able to meet with her this week and teach her more. She’s really progressing and she told us to read the BOM with her in the lesson. We talked about 2 Nephi 31. it was great to hear all of her questions and see her gain a testimony. Anyway, her name is 김미경(Kim Mi gyoung) Anywya, my companion is telling me to leave, so…sorry about the short letter. We have to go to 전주(Jeon-Ju) today. OH!! We got our transfer calls today! I am moving to
익산(Iksan)!! I’m going to be in an 3-some with Elder Orr and Elder Evans. Elder Evans was in the MTC with me, but he was the younger transfer than me. Anyway, Gotta go. Love YOU!!!

Love,

Elder Smith!

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